Ihy and Hetep's excellent afterlife.

Talk about social climbers. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence at Saqqara, Egypt, that two noblemen who lived about 4,000 years ago had their own underground tombs built secretly within a dead pharaoh's sacred burial area so that they could enjoy a royal afterlife and become gods after death like the pharaohs.

No other nonroyal Egyptians are known to have purposely placed their tombs in a spot reserved for kings.

Ihy and Hetep, two high priests who served the pharaoh Amenemhet I, devised the burials, each of which lies at the end of an underground shaft connected to an above-ground temple. British archaeologists first discovered the tombs about 70 years ago but did not realize their significance. Renewed excavations at the site in April and May were directed by David P. Silverman of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Rita E. Freed of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Ihy and Hetep worked in a mortuary cult that preserved the memory of Teti, a pharaoh who ruled 300 years before Amenemhet I. Their tombs extend just inside the sacred wall around Teti's pyramid and bear designs, inscriptions, and artwork (such as carvings from Ihy's temple, shown here) typical of Teti's era, Silverman contends.

With Amenemhet I distracted by the construction of his own pyramid, the two officials may have used their money and power to build portals to a royal afterlife on Teti's hallowed ground, according to Silverman.